Fury revives Sandy aid vote

By Jimmy Vielkind

Updated 6:53 am, Thursday, January 3, 2013

Governor Andrew Cuomo, left receives a Buffalo Bill helmet from Lt. Governor Robert Duffy during a cabinet meeting in the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Jan 2, 2013 after work was done to make sure that the pro football team remained in Buffalo for at least another 7 years.(Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Governor Andrew Cuomo, left receives a Buffalo Bill helmut from Lt. Governor Robert Duffy during a cabinet meeting in the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Jan 2, 2013 after work was done to make sure that the pro football team remained in Buffalo for at least another 7 years.(Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Governor Andrew Cuomo presides over a cabinet meeting in the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. Jan 2, 2013.(Skip Dickstein/Times Union)

Governor Andrew Cuomo presides over a cabinet meeting in the State...

In this photo provided by the Office of the Governor of New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a news conference at New Jersey's State House on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013, in Trenton, N.J. Christie blasted fellow Republican John Boehner for the House Speaker's decision Tuesday to delay a vote on Superstorm Sandy relief and says the inaction is "inexcusable." Republican Rep. Peter King of New York on Wednesday said Boehner has promised votes to aid victims of Superstorm Sandy by Jan. 15. (AP Photo/New Jersey Governor's Office, Tim Larsen)

In this photo provided by the Office of the Governor of New Jersey,...

ALBANY — Political fury over the failure of a $60.4 billion federal aid package for Superstorm Sandy swept from Albany to Washington on Wednesday after Republican House leaders pulled the promised relief bill.

The outcry from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and top Republican and Democratic congressional leaders from the hurricane-ravaged states forced House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio to offer quick action for Friday on a portion of the badly needed funding.

Boehner met Wednesday with members of the New York and New Jersey congressional delegations and promised to bring the bill to the floor in three parts, according to U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, a Kinderhook Republican who attended the meeting.

But the damage had already been done.

"It is a failure," Cuomo said. "It is a disgrace. I believe it was a dereliction of duty. I believe government matters and the functioning of government matters, and to leave New York and New Jersey and thousands of people in this holiday season on their own and abandoned is wrong."

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day, New York's Democratic governor said Boehner and his leadership team "told me and told everyone the vote was going to be yesterday" and "actually reneged on their word."

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, raised the political temperature even more. She said Boehner should come to Staten Island and the Rockaways to explain his decision to families whose homes and businesses were destroyed. "But I doubt he has the dignity nor the guts to do it," Gillibrand said.

Boehner will schedule a vote Friday for $9 billion for the national flood insurance program and another on Jan. 15 for a remaining $51 billion in the package. The votes will be taken by the new Congress that will be sworn in Thursday. The Senate must also approve the funds.

If the House, as expected, approves the flood insurance bill, the Senate plans to move quickly in hopes of approving the aid on a voice vote Friday. The flood insurance money will help pay for claims by home and business owners with coverage.

President Barack Obama also called for an immediate House vote. He called for House Republicans to vote on the Sandy aid "without delay for our fellow Americans."

The President said in a written statement that many people in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are trying to recover from the storm and need "immediate support with the bulk of winter still in front of us."

The White House said Obama spoke Wednesday with Christie about the importance of the disaster aid bill, and that the President's staff was in touch with Cuomo's team too as Obama lobbied for House action.

The two governors issued a joint statement, saying, "The fact that days continue to go by while people suffer, families are out of their homes, and men and women remain jobless and struggling during these harsh winter months is a dereliction of duty."

U.S. Rep. Peter King of Long Island, the senior Republican in the state's delegation, said the abruptly canceled vote was an "absolute disgrace" and urged well-heeled New York and New Jersey residents, often viewed as an ATM by national-level politicos, to stop writing checks to their campaigns.

"They're in New York all the time filling their pockets with money from New Yorkers," King said Wednesday morning on CNN. "I'm saying right now, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds. Because what they did last night was put a knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. It was an absolute disgrace."

Even New York's Republican Senate majority leader, Dean Skelos, whose Long Island district was one of the hardest hit by the late-October storm, joined the chorus, saying Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia "turned their backs on New Yorkers in their time of need."

While their motives were not immediately clear, Boehner and Cantor appeared to be responding to pressure from within their caucus that the $60.4 billion relief bill, passed by the Senate in late December, was "pork-laden," to use a term from New York GOP Chairman Ed Cox.

In addition to money for affected areas in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the bill contained $150 million for fisheries in Alaska and $2 million for roof repairs on museums in Washington, D.C.

"The Senate didn't do their job. They sent us a bunch of pork, and then left town," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said on Fox and Friends. "If we're going to provide relief, we can't allow it to be doubled, essentially with unrelated pork, no matter where the relief is."

Gibson acknowledged this was a problem and said under the new schedule the unrelated items would be pulled from the legislation.

"We're putting the bill back together so the number's the same. New York and New Jersey are getting additional aid," he said.

Christie said he was frustrated after Boehner withdrew the bill Tuesday night and tried to call him four times that night, but none of the calls were returned. Christie complained about the "toxic internal politics" of the House majority. Christie said he had worked hard to persuade House members to support Sandy aid, and was given assurances by GOP leaders that the bill would be voted on before Thursday.

"There is no reason for me at the moment to believe anything they tell me," Christie said before Boehner announced there would be votes this month.

Cuomo said the delay would not cause problems for the state budget — due to be unveiled Jan. 22 — but might hurt people struggling to rebuild.

"Go ask any family in Lindenhurst, in the Rockaways, in Staten Island if the delay bothers them," Cuomo said,